Rick Orlov's Tipoff: All spin, all the time

Heading in to the final week of this year's city elections, it has become an instance of all spin all the time.

Did Controller Wendy Greuel's campaign make a mistake in figuring out its funding? Or was it a smart strategic move to appeal to those who vote by mail and rely on the independent expenditure committees to keep her on television?

Who is dominating the mailboxes with their own or independent expenditure mailings?

Is anyone paying attention?

Vote-by-mail ballots accounted for 45.6 percent of the total vote in the primary election and are expected to play a major role in the runoff.

As of Friday, the returns of the VBM ballots have been running ahead of the primary - nearly 15 percent have been returned to the City Clerk's Office compared with 11.4 percent during the primary election for the same period. Overall turnout for the primary turned out to be 20.8 percent. If the trend continues, turnout for the general election could be in the 25-26 percent range...

The Kevin and Jan show had its radio debut last week on KABC (790 AM) and it could be just the start of a new career for the both of them.

Kevin James and Councilwoman Jan Perry, who became friends during their runs for mayor, got a tryout last week after the two said they were trying to put a show together to discuss local issues. As a result, they are now looking at what they can do next to capitalize on it.

Perry, a 12-year council member and a Democrat, and James, with extensive radio talk show experience and a Republican, used their hour-long tryout to discuss the races to be decided next week, with only slight talk on the mayor's race. Both have endorsed Garcetti.

James did try to press Perry to endorse Carmen Trutanich for re-election as city attorney - a difficult stretch for Perry because of her past disputes with Trutanich over the L.A. Live project. But on Saturday, Perry joined with Councilman Bernard Parks in supporting Trutanich's election.

She did demur on making an endorsement in the race for controller, saying Councilman Dennis Zine "was a racehorse," and businessman Ron Galperin had "tremendous technical grasp" of the city's issues.

What is most important to her, she said, is that the next controller agree to serve his or her full two terms...

There is life after City Hall, although it isn't always easy to leave it behind.

Just ask Chris Essel, whose job was terminated after the state abolished the Community Redevelopment Agency.

Essel, a former Paramount Pictures executive who ran for the City Council, is now president of Southern California Grantmakers, an organization that works with foundations on how to use their donations to affect public policy.

One of her first high profile events was to develop a relationship with City Hall, with a forum held last month with two incoming council members, Mike Bonin and Felipe Fuentes.

Essel said it was the first time that 32 nonprofit and philanthropic groups joined forces to stress what they could bring to city public policy.

"A clear message was sent about the strength and value of the philanthropic and non-profit sectors," Essel said.

And with a new mayor coming in and seven new City Council members, Essel said she was looking for ways the philanthropic community can improve its relations with the public sector.